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Nina Dobrev: I think so. Elena will do whatever it takes to keep everyone around her safe. So whether that ends up being keeping a promise or in the spur of the moment, something happens and she has to, in order to keep her friends safe, not keep her promise, then she will do whatever it takes. She’s a very selfless person who, as you can see, is willing to give her life for those around her.

Q: Will Katherine die in the tomb or will she escape?

ND: I don’t know, will she? I will tell you that I am going tomb crazy myself. I’ve been in the same wardrobe for six episodes. Every time I shoot that, they have to actually make my hair dirty and mess it up. I feel dirty and gross and I want to shower. I’m ready to come out of the tomb too. I’m ready to never be in the tomb ever again.

Q: They actually put dirt in your hair?

ND: Yeah, they do. They put dirt and they tease it. It’s weird because when vampires are desiccating and they don’t have blood, they start to look sickly and look like they’re dying. Usually as actors we want to look our best. You’re on national television! But when the character calls for it, you draw on undereye dark circles. It is cool. I personally love it. I love getting nitty and gritty and doing the opposite. I actually really love that.

Q: How do you like kissing the hottest guys on TV?

ND: Between the two characters on the show, I’ve literally kissed almost everyone in the cast.

Q: Wait, that doesn’t answer the question.

ND: I’m not going to kiss and tell. Everyone always asks me but I never answer.

Q: Who do you think Damon should end up with?

ND: Whoever he wants to be with.

Q: Have you thought about what you’d like to see Elena do after graduation?

ND: Survive.

Q: College maybe?

ND: Yeah, of course, but she hasn’t really been in school much lately so I don’t know how she’s going to graduate. She probably still gets A’s in all of her schoolwork even though she doesn’t go because her aunt is dating her teacher.

Q: Would you like to do a Vampire Diaries movie?

ND: I would like to finish season two of The Vampire Diaries first before I do anything. I’m so overwhelmed right now, in a good way.

Q: Does it get confusing playing both Katherine and Elena?

ND: It’s confusing to be in my head and to do this. It’s not easy and I think I’m slowly becoming a schizophrenic because of it, but it’s cool. I even forgot the question. I’m so like confused now.

Q: It was about playing both characters.

ND: About playing both, and there’s a lot going on but I’m loving it and it’s never a dull day on The Vampire Diaries. For me, I’ve always got something to do and it’s pretty awesome.

Q: Do you enjoy playing Katherine or Elena better?

ND: Not better, not one better than the other. They’re both so different. Elena I get to do a lot of emotional scenes. She goes through such a roller coaster ride where as Katherine, I just get to f*** with everyone. Excuse my language but I just get to play around and have fun and be bad and get away with things that all throughout my life I’ve been taught by my parents not to do and now I get paid for it.

Q: Could you see playing a third character at some point?

ND: Hypothetically because Katherine is the first doppelganger that means there was one before her. So I guess we’ll see what happens.

Q: Would you like to do that?

ND: I have my hands very full right now, but I’m sure it would be interesting.

Q: What are your thoughts on the arrival of Klaus? Who should be cast and have you imagined an actor playing him in your head?

ND: I can’t tell you too much because I don’t want to give it away, but Klaus is coming at some point by the end of the season. He hasn’t been cast yet as far as I know. We don’t really know that much. We won’t find out again until it’s actually written on the page, but he’s going to be a big, bad vampire. I think Sacha Baron Cohen should be cast, do one of his crazy characters with an accent. So Sacha. Anyone can just pass along the message.

“It’s not easy, and I think I’m slowly becoming a schizophrenic because of it,” Dobrev said during the CW’s Kick-Ass Women panel at the TCA Press Tour last week. At a cocktail party after the event, she spoke further with a small group of reporters, including Show Tracker, about getting to play two such diametrically opposed characters.

“Elena, I get to do a lot of emotional scenes. She goes through such a roller-coaster ride,” she said. “With Katherine, I just get to [mess] with everyone. I just get to play around and have fun and be bad and get away with things that all throughout my life I’ve been taught by my parents not to do. Now I get paid for it.”
But it might not stop with Elena and Katherine. Could Dobrev be playing a third character at some point? “Hypothetically,” she said. “Because Katherine is the first doppelganger, that means there was one before her. So I guess we’ll what happens.” She’s up for the challenge too even though she’s got her hands “very full right now” with two roles. “I’m sure it would be interesting,” she said.

Until then, she just wants to get out of the tomb, where Katherine has been trapped without blood for several episodes. “I’m going tomb crazy myself,” she said. “I’ve been in the same wardrobe for six episodes. Every time I shoot that, they have to actually make my hair dirty and mess it up.” Real dirt and teasing goes into Dobrev’s hair, as well as drawn-on, under-eye dark circles to make the CW star look like a “desiccating” and “sickly” vampire. “I love getting nitty-gritty and doing the opposite,” Dobrev said, but she’s ready for a change of scenery. “I feel dirty and gross and I want to shower. I’m ready to come out of the tomb too. I’m ready to never be in the tomb ever again.”

Thankfully, she still gets to play in the sun as Elena, who’s focused on a suicide mission right now” to save her friends and family in exchange for her life. But will Elena keep up her end of the deal with Elijah?

“I think so,” Dobrev said. “Elena will do whatever it takes to keep everyone around her safe. So whether that ends up being keeping the promise or, in the spur of the moment, something happens and she has to, in order to keep her friends safe, not keep her promise, then she will do whatever it takes.”

And if Elena does survive, what will happen to her after graduation? Would she like to see college in her future? “Yeah, of course,” she said. “But she hasn’t really been in school much lately, so I don’t know how she’s going to graduate…. Well you know what, she probably still gets As in all of her schoolwork even though she doesn’t go because her aunt is dating her teacher.”

“First, Jeremy getting trapped in the tomb was like, Katherine wins! When Stefan came in, she’s like, ‘Wow, I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried. The one person I want to be stuck with, here he is, and now he’s got nowhere to go. I will seduce him, I will tease him, I will anger him.’ The line between love and hate truly is very, very thin,” Dobrev says. “So she has a chance to egg him on, and he can’t do anything about it. He has no choice but to listen, and yeah, it is a very kind of sexy, manipulative scene, and he gives in. It’s pretty crazy.”

“I especially have been thrown around the set on a number of occasions,” Dobrev concedes with a laugh. “They try to make sure we’re safe when we do those things, but we as actors can’t help but get into it. We want to feel the pain. We want to make it real. So sometimes, we go overboard and slam each other a little too hard. Like that scene in particular, they padded it a little bit, but you can only do so much before you actually see the padding. It was a lot of throwing around.” So she sported some bruises afterward? “Oh, I have bruises on a daily basis. I always have bruises on my body. I’m black and blue all over,” she says. “Thank goodness for Arnica.”

“Elijah (guest star Daniel Gillies) makes an unexpected appearance with an offer that could change everything.” Elena wanted to sacrifice herself last episode to spare the lives of her friends, who are trying to save her from Elijah (and the as-yet-unseen Klaus). Will Elijah work that angle? All Dobrev will say is this: “Elena is in a predicament in the sense that she has a challenge, and she is out of control for the first time in a long time. When Elijah comes into her life on this day, it’s even more challenging, and tempting. Elena is the one who has to make a decision, and this time, she’s not in control, which is very frustrating for her. Elena doesn’t like to not be in control.”

Dobrev agrees that the introduction of Elijah and the concept of The Originals has been great for the show. “It’s gonna keep getting gorier and better and darker,” she says. “It adds a whole other layer. As difficult as it was for all the characters before, now they’re faced with an even more epic danger. Everyone is at risk.” But not Katherine, right? She won’t be getting a stake in the heart anytime soon, we hope. “I can’t imagine what the show was before Katherine came around,” Dobrev says. For a second, you wonder if that’s the sleep-deprivation from her schedule playing the doppelgängers for half a season talking. But it’s not. “If she ever left, I think that would be a really big mistake. She’s like another Damon,” she continues, “but now Damon is getting a lot softer, and you still need that kind of playful bad character.”

NINA DOBREV has admitted that she works “crazy” hours on The Vampire Diaries.

The actress plays the roles of vampire Katherine Pierce and doppelganger Elena Gilbert in The CW series and spoke to the Vancouver Sun about the workload.

“I’m not sleeping very much,” she confessed. “The hours are pretty crazy and I’m working a lot; I’m actually becoming a vampire in my own right.”

However, she added: “But it’s great – it’s a really great opportunity that I’ve been given.”

Discussing the differences between the two characters, Dobrev said: “As Katherine, I can get away with a lot more and say a lot more and be a little bit more edgy and bad. She has a very playful personality. As soon as I put on the heels and they start curling my hair, I’m in the zone.

“As Elena, it’s the same thing: I put on the Converse and jeans and a T-shirt, and I feel like this strong young woman, figuring herself out. That’s who she is: she’s figuring herself out and she’s growing.”

Where you know her from?

Nina Dobrev is a Bulgarian-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mia Jones, the single teenage mother on Degrassi: The Next Generation, from the show's sixth to ninth season. She currently stars as Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW television teen drama The Vampire Diaries.

Up next: Vampire Diaries Episode 12 “The Descent”

Stefan has his own ideas about Elena’s new plan for the future. While Damon tries to get the truth out of Jules, he asks Elena to keep an eye on Rose, a situation that turns unexpectedly dangerous. Caroline and Matt try to be honest about their feelings for one another, and Tyler’s reaction to Caroline’s generosity comes as a surprise to her. Damon struggles to hide his true feelings when a life-and-death crisis hits him harder than he expected. Air date: January 27th 2011